Mesmerizing underwater skyscrapers imagine life beneath the sea

Before we get to live on Mars and transplant human life as we know it to other planets, we may colonize something far closer to home: our oceans. Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut has come up with fabulous designs that showcases what life underwater might be like.

Callebaut imagined a series of marine eco-villages, CNN reports, that could each house as many as 20,000 people. The Aequorea oceanscrapers — like a skyscraper, but housed beneath the ocean — would reach the surface and would be self-sufficient.

Each oceanscraper would be constructed from recycled plastics removed from the ocean, and water would be desalinated for drinking. Microalgae would recycle organic waste and light from the surface would reach living quarters using bioluminescence.

The oceanscrapers would not interfere with natural water movements thanks to their design, and their strange jellyfish-like geometry is meant to help with high currents, storms, earthquakes and other natural water movements. The outer layer should provide increased sturdiness, as it would get thicker “from the sea surface downwards, to compensate for the strain caused by the increase in pressure.”

The oceanscrapers would reach depths of up to 1,000 meters, spanning 250 floors. Each complex would house apartments, hotels, sports fields and science labs.